Natural
by autumn midnights
Summary: When the Triwizard Tournament is played again, at Durmstrang this time, seventh year Freddie Weasley is a part of the Hogwarts delegation. But his mind isn't exactly on the Tournament...it's on a girl he meets instead. Of course.


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Harry Potter, or else I wouldn't be on this site. I would be a billionaire.

_A/N: For the 'I Dare You' thread over at Next-Gen Fanatics. I was dared to write a FreddieOC set at Durmstrang with the prompt 'pink crystals'._

* * *

Freddie Weasley and James Potter slipped inside a compartment, promptly locking the door so that nobody else could come in. James was practically bouncing on the edge of his seat, Freddie thought; he obviously had news that he wanted to share. As amusing as it was to watch his fellow seventh-year act like a hyper third year told he could finally go to Hogsmeade, his desire to learn what James' news was won out. "What is it? Did you finally get shagged over break?" he added, in typical teenage-boy style.

"No, you idiot, this is...well, I don't know if it's better than shagging, but it's certainly bigger news. The Triwizard Tournament is being held again this year."

"No way," Freddie gasped. "And we're of age...so we can enter!"

"Yeah," James agreed. "Lily's going to be so jealous." He smirked. "It's not even held at Hogwarts, either...it's held at Durmstrang, and any person of age who has a shot at being selected gets to go. We get private tutoring from the Headmistress, because she's the only adult who goes with us, and if we do well, it's counted as equivalent to the N.E.W.T. study regime and we don't even have to take them. Isn't that perfect?"

"We're going to Durmstrang, then!" Freddie grinned. "Hey, we have a chance to get picked. We're both decent at schoolwork and magic, we can both fly, we're both somewhat athletic..."

"Stop flattering me," James teased, stretching out over the bench of seating. "This will be the best year of our lives, I'm sure of it. And Lily's not going to be around to pester me...no, she's going to be back at Hogwarts, sulking and brooding over how fourth years aren't allowed to go. Yep, this will be wonderful."

"Lily can brood with Roxanne," Freddie added. His younger sister Roxanne was in Lily's year, and the two girls were closer than sisters despite Lily being in Slytherin and Roxanne in Gryffindor. "They'll have little brooding parties where they moan and groan about the unfairness of life together."

"Imagine if one of us became the Hogwarts champion," James mused. "Competing in the Triwizard Tournament...it would bring so much glory to Hogwarts, and Gryffindor, and, well, you or me."

"Yeah, and then it would bring a bunch of Galleons to Lily," Freddie smirked. "You know she'd take them before you could even put them into Gringotts. The things she could do with a thousand Galleons..." He mock-shuddered, although the thought of the young Slytherin girl with loads of money on her hands was actually a slightly frightening thought.

"True," James said, and the rest of the train ride, several hours long, was devoted to topics relating to the Tournament, and nothing else at all.

* * *

The announcement about the tournament, at the first feast of the Hogwarts school year, caused a ripple of loud conversation among all the students. The younger ones - including Lily and Roxanne - were all annoyed and disappointed that it wouldn't be held at Hogwarts, and they wouldn't be able to see any of the tasks for themselves. The seventh years, and even a few sixth years with birthdays early in the year, were babbling excitedly about the possibility of them going to Durmstrang and competing in the Triwizard Tournament.

"Quiet down, quiet down," Professor Clearwater, the Headmistress of Hogwarts, said, gesturing with her hands. "Every student who will be of age, that is to say, seventeen, before October 31st will be a possible contender for the Triwizard Tournament. Sign-up sheets will be posted outside each common room, and they will be up there until October 15th, at which point I and the other professors will look them over and judge amongst ourselves which twelve students should have the privilege to go. The names will be announced at dinner the day we have finished, and if anybody wishes to drop out and not go to Durmstrang, you must tell us then so that we may announce the next contender. Remember, the Triwizard Tournament is a commitment, and once your name is entered in the Goblet of Fire, if it selects you, there is no going back."

More murmurs broke out, and it took a few moments for everybody to quiet down. One Slytherin sixth year that Freddie didn't know was complaining - loudly - how her birthday was on November 1st, and how it was very unfair for her not to be included when, by the time the tasks rolled around, she'd be of age. Lily and Roxanne - the latter of whom had apparently managed to snag a seat at the Slytherin table - were bemoaning how they wouldn't get to go, when their family had been an important part of the last time the tournament had been played. All in all, it was chaos.

"Quiet!" Professor Clearwater shouted to make herself heard. "The rules are final. Only people who are of age by October 31st may come, and once the champion is selected, their family members may come out to Durmstrang to see the tasks, but that is it." Lily and Roxanne high-fived one another, looking eagerly from James to Freddie and back again. "There will be no bending of the date to accommodate those born in November, either. With those things being said, the sign-up sheets will be posted tonight. Now, let us eat."

Freddie dug into his food with abandon, as did James. Most of the other seventh years were eagerly talking amongst themselves about the Triwizard Tournament and how awesome it would be to be selected as Hogwarts champion, let alone winning the whole thing and coming off as the official Tournament champion. Freddie and James, having exhausted the topic with each other, chatted about it with the other seventh year Gryffindor boys, all who were planning on signing up.

After supper Freddie, James, and their friends practically ran back to the common room, even though they knew the professor posting the list would be a couple minutes; the teachers always waited until everyone left the Great Hall, and several students had a habit of staying behind so that they didn't have to deal with the pushing and shoving of the impatient ones who hurried out first. It was probably also likely that Lily and Roxanne had stayed behind to get a couple more minutes of talking in, and they probably wouldn't leave until the teachers pushed them out when even they got annoyed.

Thankfully, the boys only had to wait a few minutes - perhaps ten or so - before Neville Longbottom, head of Gryffindor house, came and pinned a sheet on the bulletin board. They crowded around it, signing their names and grabbing the quill from each other's hands in a rush to get it up there. This, too, was chaotic, and Freddie relished in the craziness of it all. It would certainly be strange, if he was selected to go, being at Durmstrang for the entire year, as the dozen selected got to stay for all the tasks in support of the champion. He couldn't wait.

* * *

A couple of days after October 15, the date that the lists were taken down, Professor Clearwater stood up in front of the student body. "The other professors and I have come to a decision on the dozen students who will be going to Durmstrang for one of them to become the Hogwarts champion. These students are..." One by one, she named them, in alphabetical order, and then she came to the Ps. "Potter, James," she said, and, unlike the others who had simply stood up for a couple seconds so that the school body could recognize them, James stood up on the bench and whooped loudly. "Take your seat," the Headmistress said, curbing his enthusiasm, but only slightly.

"I'm in, I'm in," James singsonged. Roxanne, who was sitting only a couple people down from him, leaned over and smacked him on the head. From where Freddie was sitting he could see Lily at the Slytherin table laughing hysterically as a couple of her friends smirked at James. Even Freddie couldn't resist a chuckle, his laughter winning out over his loyalty to his cousin.

"The last person selected to go to Durmstrang is Fred Weasley," Professor Clearwater said, and Freddie stood up, punching the air triumphantly. They were headed to Durmstrang. No exams, no N.E.W.T.s, no irritating little sisters, and the lovely possibility of being selected to be in the Triwizard Tournament and win glory for Hogwarts, Gryffindor, his family, and himself. It was absolutely perfect, and he remained in a daze for the rest of the night that not even James could shake him out of.

* * *

The actual trip to Durmstrang was , in reality, quite dull. They went there in the thestral-pulled carriages, four total - each one carried four students, and the last one was for Professor Clearwater and all the luggage - and it lasted for hours. James and Freddie were stuck with a Hufflepuff girl who doesn't say a word the whole time, and a Ravenclaw girl who kept boasting about herself. It was, in all ways, a very irritating journey, and Freddie was extremely glad when the carriages finally landed and they were able to get out.

His first thought was that it was cold. Seriously, ridiculously, freezing cold. He tugged his robes tighter around himself and headed inside to the castle - which, he couldn't help but notice, was smaller than Hogwarts - with the rest of the students. As they entered he saw that the Beauxbatons students were already there, a tight clique of light-blue-robed students who are clustered together as if their very lives depended upon it. Professor Clearwater headed up to the staff table, leaving the twelve Hogwarts students to stand there awkwardly until they finally took the initiative and sat down.

Freddie's seat was next to a brunette girl wearing a necklace of pink crystals, and looked to be maybe fifteen or sixteen. She looked right at him, making eye contact, as he sat down. "Hello."

"Hi," he said, unsure of exactly what to say.

"I'm Isabel. What's your name?" She actually sounded British, as opposed to the rest of the students who were jabbering away in either heavily accented English or a native language, and he supposed that her parents could have sent her here as opposed to Hogwarts.

"Freddie," he admitted, slightly embarrassed. For years he had made people call him Freddie just so that he was different from Dead Fred, but now, at seventeen, talking to a relatively attractive girl that he didn't know, it was a little embarrassing.

"Well, nice to meet you, Freddie," she said, not drawing any attention to his rather childish nickname. "Good luck in entering the Tournament."

"Are you too young to enter?"

Isabel rolled her eyes. "Yes. Unfortunately." She sighed. "I'm sixteen. Stupid rules. I'll be seventeen this summer - I'm not _that _far off."

"That sucks," he said sympathetically, looking eagerly at the food that was being passed around. "I don't mean to be rude, but why do you come here? You sound British."

"I am. My parents wanted me to come here, because of all the things that happened in Britain back when our parents were in school. They thought this would be safer."

"Doesn't Durmstrang teach the Dark Arts?" Freddie asked. The rumor was that it did, but of course, having not known anybody from this school, he had no accompanying proof.

"A little," she said, shrugging. "I mean, it used to, but after Voldemort's death a lot of new laws were created, so they cut down a lot." She picked at the food set in front of her. "You know, the Quidditch player Viktor Krum used to come here."

"I heard that," Freddie replied, a bit of excitement creeping into his tone. "You like Quidditch?"

"Yeah, definitely. You Hogwarts people are so lucky, having actual games against each other...here, it's just a bunch of pickup games whenever we have enough people who want to play, and when it's not _too _bad outside."

"Is it actually ever nice out? I mean, it's October, and it's got to be below freezing out there."

Isabel smirked at him. "Wait until January, Freddie. Then it's really bad."

_Wonderful, _he couldn't help but think as the students all devoured their food.

* * *

He wasn't picked for the Triwizard Tournament. It was annoying at first, especially since the one who got picked was the braggart Ravenclaw girl, Maria Brown, but that quickly faded after he watched the first task, an obstacle course filled with all sorts of dangerous booby traps and unfriendly creatures. Freddie had a lot of spare time on his hands as a result; studying with the other seventh years took up most of the day, but after three or four o'clock they were released to wander around or hang out with the others.

He spent most of his time with Isabel. He would have tried to see James more, but the other boy was much too busy with the Durmstrang girls; the foreign students, apparently, were much more interesting. There were less girls at Durmstrang than boys, as its reputation of being a strict, Dark school preceded it, even though it had loosened up in the past two decades or so. The girls that did attend were, for the most part, fiery and no-nonsense, and James, apparently, enjoyed the challenge.

They stayed inside most of the time. Although Isabel was somewhat used to the Durmstrang weather, Freddie was not, and he didn't even bother after two attempts. Staying inside was somewhat fun, however, as they were able to explore the castle, which, as small compared to Hogwarts as it was, it was still a decent size. During these hours spent together they grew much closer, and by the end of November they were promising each other that they would have to write, and occasionally visit, after the tournament was over.

* * *

"The Yule Ball's coming up," James said to Freddie as they passed each other in the hall. Freddie was meeting up with Isabel; he wasn't quite sure what James was doing. "Are you taking that girl that you always hang out with?"

"I haven't thought about it," Freddie said, startled by the realization. It made sense for him to go with Isabel, he thought. She was his friend, and, apart from her, he couldn't think of anyone he could take. He didn't know any of the Beauxbatons or Durmstrang girls. He knew the Hogwarts girls, but he didn't really like any of them enough to want to spend a whole night with them, dancing and talking. "I guess I'll probably ask her, though. Who are you taking?"

"I don't know." James thought for a moment. "I haven't decided between the Beauxbatons girls Jeannette and Helene, or the Durmstrang girls Ivana and Roza."

"You have four different girls you want to take?" Freddie wasn't honestly surprised - this was James, after all.

"Yes," James said, smirking. "I am good, aren't I?"

"Shut up."

* * *

"Isabel..." Freddie paused, unsure of the best way to continue. "Would you, um, like to go to the Yule Ball?"

"Sure." She smiled at him, and although he had originally pictured them going as just friends, a sudden realization - _Isabel is pretty and nice and funny and a girl - _made him wonder if the 'just friends' stage could change.

She pecked his cheek as she left the room, and he felt his spirits soar.

* * *

They slow-danced together at the Ball, and Freddie couldn't think of a better way to spend the Yule Ball than with Isabel, just holding her in his arms as they swayed back and forth to the gentle sound of the romantic music playing overhead. It was a perfect night, and when they kissed a couple minutes later, it was natural and amazing, and Freddie couldn't help wishing that he was staying there forever.

* * *

**Speaking of forever...this took forever to write. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please review! This is a oneshot, by the way, and will not be continued.**


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